Netanyahu Says Nuke Deal getting Worse by the Day

In meeting with Greek FM, PM promises to help Greece, accuses West of abandoning principles in nuke talks with Iran.

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Ari Yashar, 06/07/15 14:38

Binyamin Netanyahu, Nikolaos Kotzias

Ohad Zwigenberg/POOL

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Monday with Greek Foreign Minister Nikolaos Kotzias, and promised to support the flailing state of Greece as it deals with bankruptcy.

"You are arriving here at a critical time for Greece and I appreciate your visit," Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. "It expresses the true obligation between us."

"We are today two Western democracies seeking peace and security, and Israel is obligated to help in any way we can so that you succeed, not only because we are friendly nations - we also have an alliance against militant Islamic terror which endangers not only the Middle East but the entire world."

"Recently we saw an Iranian-Hezbollah terror cell uncovered in Cyprus that had reportedly five tons of ammonium nitrate in one apartment. That's roughly the amount that took down the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That's just one apartment. But this terror network expands to over 30 countries in many continents and we have just received a report of another Iranian terror cell operating in Jordan that was uncovered."

Kotzias responded, saying, "I'm very happy to be here in Israel, we know that Israel is a close and important friend of Greece."

Netanyahu in the meeting also spoke about the Iran nuclear deal, which is approaching an extended July 7 deadline on Tuesday.

"Every day more concessions are made to Iran and every day the deal becomes worse and worse," charged the prime minister.

"What we see in Vienna is not a breakthrough but rather a breakdown of the principles that the P5+1 (world powers - ed.) obligated to in the Lausanne talks," he said. The talks are taking place in Vienna, while the interim agreement was reached in Switzerland's Lausanne.

The prime minister argued that "this deal will pave Iran's path to a nuclear arsenal. It will give them a jackpot of hundreds of billions of dollars with which to continue to fund their aggression and terror – aggression in the region, terror throughout the world."

"This is something we need to work against because when there's such a bad deal, similar to the deal with North Korea, the conclusion is clear - it's better not to reach an agreement at all rather than this very bad deal."

US President Barack Obama has been pushing hard for a deal with Iran; his negotiator Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday warned Iran it must make "hard choices."